how many discus to a tank?

[wrangler]

I have been looking at the gorgeous discus fish for years and I finally broke down and purchased one that was at my LFS. It is a brown(wild?) discus with alittle bit of turquoise over the face/gill plate as well as along both the top and bottom fins. Also the dorsal and caudal fins are lined in red. Anyhoo, I have been on the lookout for at least one more but preferably two more to add to the tank. I was out shopping today at a fish store that carries discus quite regularly, altho at this time they dont really have anything that I want to purchase. Most of them were listed as "pigeons" several colors available, but all had extensive "peppering" on them. My tank is a 30 gal bow front planted tank. It houses right now some cardinals, cherry barbs, platys, guppies and a khuli loach. I was alittle worried about the discus when I put him in.....he was extremely shy and hid in the plants in the back corner of the tank...I am sure stressed due to the move as well as having tankmates-since he was all alone in the aquarium at the LFS. It has been about a week and he/she is now out swimming throughout the tank with all the other fishes as well as eating BS and Bloodworms(he seems to prefer the worms). I have several questions.....first is there somewhere that has all or a vast majority of the possible color choices that are available in discus...most times when I search I get breeders that only have limited colors available and I am looking for a website that is purely informational as far as colors that are available. Second I have read that it is better to have 6-8 discus together....I dont really think that is possible due to the tank size that I currently have and dont have room for larger tank........what is the maximum that you can have discus wise in a 30g bow front tank......right now I am doing a 50% wc every other day. Anyway that is all that I can think of for now......BTW this is a GREAT board.....very informational!!!

[Ardan]

Hi, and welcome:)
The discus normally do best in groups of 5 or 6. Alone they are very shy/scared.

In a 30 gallon as a beginner it may be difficult to keep this many and grow them well. Water changes daily would be necessary.
they usually do best by themselves in a tank, all the platys and guppies may not do well together.

One other thing is quarantine between different discus purchased at different times and locations. If you put them together they may carry disease and spread it amongst themselves.

hth
Ardan

[White Worm]

Not good to add 1 discus at a time. Get a 55g and 5-6 discus to do it right. You will run in to aggression adding one at a time and same problems with small numbers in a small space.

[BSW]

Hi Wrangler -
Here is a link to Domestic Discus strains -
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hlc/fons/strains/pictures.htm

and here is a link to Wild Discus strains -
http://www.amazon-exotic-import.de/Gallerie/Diskuswildf%e4nge/INDEX.htm

But I think Breeders tend to come up with names of their own sometimes, so you may run into two of the same fish, called different things.

B

[tdr1919]

Ardan and Mikscus are right on, a 30 gal would be at best good for 4 adults (without plants and substrate) my number has always been a minimum of 4 equal size discus. You might want just to keep the one fish for now, if you add more then you will really need to be on top of the water conditions.

Tom

[Don Trinko]

I have 2 29g, each with 4 discus,gravel and fake plants. Bigger is better but that is what I had. I bought small (2 to 2 1/2") discus. They are still in the 29 and have grown ( now 3 1/2 to 4 1/2") and are healthy.

I also had 4 in a 75g. They behaved prety much the same : One dominant, They chase each other occasionaly, they all eat fine. I now have 8 in the 75 and they still chase each other but not as much as when there were 4. In no case have I ever had an injury to a discus from another. They dart twards each other but seldom make contact.
I am retired so I have the time to keep an eye on things. It is more work with gravel and fake plants. Discus also have personalities. It's possible I got 4 easy going discus. I did buy all 4 from the same tank at the dealer. If you do put 4 in a 30 it's a good idea to have another tank just in case they don't get along.
Discus do require frequent water changes. If you try to treat them like other tropicals they will get sick and probably die.
Don T.